*TRIGGER WARNING* Trouble In Transtopia: Murmurs Of Sex Change Regret

[suzifrommd]

Makes me shudder that there are people out there actively trying to undermine my health with lies and distortions about my condition. Evil has many forms.

[Brenda E]

Don't read the comments. Lots of ignorance, hate and just plain unpleasantness.

Uh, too late.

[ErinWDK]

Don't read the comments. Lots of ignorance, hate and just plain unpleasantness.

This sort of goes without saying for most any news story.  The ones making the comments have nothing else to do; and how truly sad they are comes screaming out of what they write when they think it is anonymous.


Erin

[Brenda E]

This sort of goes without saying for most any news story.  The ones making the comments have nothing else to do; and how truly sad they are comes screaming out of what they write when they think it is anonymous.

That's what worries me a little.  If they act that way in an anonymous comments section, then they act that way behind closed doors in real life when they think nobody is looking too.  The anonymity might make that person's identity a mystery, but the thoughts and hatred behind the comments are very real and can be applied in very real ways, from threatening looks on the street all the way to actual violence or laws made to discriminate.  Scary to think that plenty of people hold innermost thoughts that are so disgusting.  (But then again, I'm sure we all have places in our minds we'd rather other people never, ever knew we had! )

[Paige]

I guess the only thing I would add is that life isn't safe.  How many people do you know who've made a decision that altered their life forever and weren't happy about it.  To imagine every single transition would be a great success, seems to me to be just a tad naive.  Life doesn't work that way.  There are many more things in life that are no where near as safe and successful as transgender transitioning.

Paige

[Brenda E]

I guess the only thing I would add is that life isn't safe.  How many people do you know who've made a decision that altered their life forever and weren't happy about it.

Great point, Paige.  People regret life-altering things every day.  Leaving a job.  Getting divorced.  Marrying the wrong person.  Buying a useless car.  Taking the wrong major in college.  Drinking and driving.

And people kill themselves over that stuff every day too.

You know what, eff that hack writer Stella Morabito and her god damn bull->-bleeped-<- religious right-wing anti-trans propaganda that made me second guess my effing decision to transition after I read her hateful article and the hateful comments she deliberately incited.  She didn't make me second guess whether I was trans - I'm trans, whether she likes it or not, and whether I like it or not.  She made me second guess whether the world was safe enough from people like her who would beat me to death in an alley if they thought nobody was looking.

A quick search for her name on Google reveals that she's made quite a career of pushing an anti-trans agenda, pretending that it's actual journalism and not just bigotry.  A nasty piece of work.

(Er, edited to remove prior vitriol - Brenda E.)

[Missy~rmdlm]

Well that's a big unfortunate mess. Of course as already stated it's one sided and decidedly hostile. I think she's treading on some hilariously thin aguments though. in particular the statement of 65% of plastic surgeries have regret...That makes sexual reassignment surgery like -the- gold standard with it's very low regret rate.

Just in case some person is anonymously tallying info, I'm post op and loving it.

[Jill F]

67.6% of stats are made up on the spot.

[Devlyn]

That's true. At least it is 80% of the time.

[cathyrains]

Great point, Paige.  People regret life-altering things every day.  Leaving a job.  Getting divorced.  Marrying the wrong person.  Buying a useless car.  Taking the wrong major in college.  Drinking and driving.

And people kill themselves over that stuff every day too.

People experience far less silencing and intimidation for speaking out about their regret in those situations you list. They also, typically, have far more support available to them.

[Brenda E]

People experience far less silencing and intimidation for speaking out about their regret in those experiences you list.

Well, sure, but the point I was trying to make was that the fact some people regret certain decisions doesn't make them bad decisions per se.  The author of the article seems to be trying to claim that because some people regret their decision to transition, it must've been a flawed idea in the first place.  She then tries to extrapolate a few bad outcomes to the entire transgender community by implying that transition is a flawed idea in almost every case.  Shoddy journalism, shoddy logic, and just another idiot pushing an idiotic agenda.

[blink]

I wonder if these folks would take this same attitude to other medical treatments. Sometimes people get misdiagnosed and receive the wrong treatment. Yes, it's unfortunate. No, people shouldn't be made to feel ashamed for being misdiagnosed and receiving incorrect treatment. It doesn't mean the treatment itself is wrong for everyone. If someone were misdiagnosed with diabetes and given insulin, that would end rather badly, but the problem was the misdiagnosis. In the meantime there are diabetics out there who need insulin.

They're willfully ignorant, all these people saying "they should be receiving psychiatric care!" Yeah, the thing is, the actual mental health professionals - the ones who've studied this condition for decades rather than basing everything on a knee-jerk reaction from ignorance - have reached a consensus that transition is the only effective treatment for this condition. "Reparative therapy" has been methodically proven not to be worth a crap. Ta-dah. Fanfare. Confetti.

[Alexis2107]

Don't read the comments. Lots of ignorance, hate and just plain unpleasantness.

Lot of jealous people in the comments, I'd say   I'm proud to be what I am, obviously, they are not.  I smile, and think, these people must have some sort of hate in or about their life while I am loving mine.  Makes me more happy about being trans more than anything.  Maybe I am just weird - but I have always find that those who 'hate'... have a lot of it in their life and are unhappy.  Those who accept, love, and give compassion have a meaningful and happy life.

[Missy~rmdlm]

I wonder if these folks would take this same attitude to other medical treatments. Sometimes people get misdiagnosed and receive the wrong treatment. Yes, it's unfortunate. No, people shouldn't be made to feel ashamed for being misdiagnosed and receiving incorrect treatment. It doesn't mean the treatment itself is wrong for everyone. If someone were misdiagnosed with diabetes and given insulin, that would end rather badly, but the problem was the misdiagnosis. In the meantime there are diabetics out there who need insulin.

Obviously! I think since heart attacks have a 33% fatality rate, people should skip treatment entirely, that'll fix em.

[Paige]

67.6% of stats are made up on the spot.

That's true. At least it is 80% of the time.

[Susan522]

Quote from: Jill F on Yesterday at 09:30:14 pm

67.6% of stats are made up on the spot.

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on Yesterday at 09:40:25 pm

That's true. At least it is 80% of the time.

ROFLMAO

I'll go read the article now.

[Eva Marie]

The author is a fan of and quotes Dr. Paul McHugh in her articles. That should tell you something about her motivation.

For those of you who don't know - Paul McHugh is no friend to the transgender community; he has done incalculable harm to the community because of his former position as psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his virulently anti trans stance. He gets drug out as a expert every time someone wants to make the same points that the author of this article does.

It is clearly an unbalanced hit piece missing a lot of facts that would completely water down her case. It seems that people like her never let facts and evidence stand in the way of their opinions and motives.

[Susan522]

The author is a fan of and quotes Dr. Paul McHugh in her articles. That should tell you something about her motivation.

For those of you who don't know - Paul McHugh is no friend to the transgender community; he has done incalculable harm to the community because of his former position as psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and his virulently anti trans stance. He gets drug out as a expert every time someone wants to make the same points that the author of this article does.

It is clearly an unbalanced hit piece missing a lot of facts that would completely water down her case. It seems that people like her never let facts and evidence stand in the way of their opinions and motives.

Are you not attacking the messenger, rather than the message?

Serious regrets and de-transitions are a seemingly growing reality and the reasons for these regrets should be looked at objectively in order to possibly understand what went wrong.  Would it not be more constructive to examine the arguments first before just dismissing them as "willfully ignorant 'knee-jerk' reactions"?

I followed a couple of the links provided and found this one to be interesting and  informative:  http://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jul/31/health.socialcare

[Paige]

Are you not attacking the messenger, rather than the message?

Serious regrets and de-transitions are a seemingly growing reality and the reasons for these regrets should be looked at objectively in order to possibly understand what went wrong.  Would it not be more constructive to examine the arguments first before just dismissing them as "willfully ignorant 'knee-jerk' reactions"?

Hi Susan522,

I think there comes a point when you have to attack the messenger.   If the points being raised have been repeatedly debunked and you sense a dishonest maliciousness to the person who brings these debunked points up then it's time to stop giving this person the benefit of the doubt. 

Reading the other posters in this thread, you get a good idea why people have a real problem with the anecdotal evidence and the suspect statistics being used.  But this is not the first time these arguments against transgender transitioning have been raised and argued against.

The internet is full of people that make bogus comments about science for instance.  Many times these commenters want you to prove to them why they are wrong and then ignore you because their belief system doesn't allow them to learn.  I'm sorry life is too short for this dishonest game.

Anyway just my two cents.  Have a nice day.
Paige
   

[Susan522]

Hi Susan522,

I think there comes a point when you have to attack the messenger.   If the points being raised have been repeatedly debunked and you sense a dishonest maliciousness to the person who brings these debunked points up then it's time to stop giving this person the benefit of the doubt. 

Reading the other posters in this thread, you get a good idea why people have a real problem with the anecdotal evidence and the suspect statistics being used.  But this is not the first time these arguments against transgender transitioning have been raised and argued against.

The internet is full of people that make bogus comments about science for instance.  Many times these commenters want you to prove to them why they are wrong and then ignore you because their belief system doesn't allow them to learn.  I'm sorry life is too short for this dishonest game.

Anyway just my two cents.  Have a nice day.
Paige

I do not see these arguments as having been "debunked" or "bogus".  I see serious mistakes being made in how people are treated and lives being ruined.  Sadly I also see a "knee-jerk" reaction on the part of the "community" to demonize the author for bringing these issues to light, (then justify that demonization), and seemingly afraid or unwilling to examine an obvious short coming in the treatment protocols for people like yourself who apparently suffer from a wide variety of possibly related disorders.

Making the argument that it is society's fault for not accepting behavior that it deems inappropriate is a red herring and a "cop out" IMHO.  The issue is the growing number of 'regretters'.  The question is "Why?"